🇺🇸 Uninsurable

Good morning, and happy Wednesday. This polite criminal stole cupcakes from a Canadian bakery and cleaned up his mess afterward.

Plus, this state just approved the 1st taxpayer-funded religious school in US…

Also, if you’re like us and you love supporting American entrepreneurs, today’s partner is right up your alley. Just take Mr. Wonderful’s word for it.

TRENDING

Right: Slaying the Censorship Leviathan Aaron Kheriaty, Tablet Magazine

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Right: Republicans Need To Play the Same Game as Democrats Ryun & Root, Am. Greatness

Left: Growing Field Isn't Selling GOP on Ditching Trump Stephen Collinson, CNN

Left: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Appeal Will Also Be His Ruin Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC

Left: Democrats Must Disempower the Courts, Not Reform Them Jeet Heer, The Nation

QUICK CLICKS

Tucker on Twitter, Florida Migrant Flights, Chris Christie’s Campaign

US: Tucker Carlson releases first episode on Twitter: ‘We’re grateful to be here’ (The Hill)

US: Air quality levels in parts of the U.S. plunge as Canada wildfires rage (NBC News)

US: 2 dead, 5 wounded in shooting outside Va. high school graduation – suspect, 19, in custody (NY Post)

US: Florida officials could still face charges over migrant flights, Gavin Newsom says (POLITICO)

US: Chris Christie Launches Presidential Campaign, Takes Immediate Aim At Trump (Daily Wire)

US: House conservatives block GOP bills, voice frustration in response to last week's debt ceiling vote (AP)

World: Iran hails 'new era' as embassy reopens in Saudi Arabia (BBC)

World: Blinken planning to travel to China soon for high-level talks (CBS News)

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FINANCE

Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is Not There (In California)

Late last month, State Farm announced it would stop providing new home insurance policies to customers in California, saying it’s more or less impossible to do business there. The insurer largely blames this on wildfires and increased construction costs.

Reporting from The Left: State Farm stops home insurance sales in California, citing wildfire risks Ramishah Maruf, CNN

Reporting from The Right: State Farm stops accepting home insurance applications in California: 'Difficult place to do business' Fox News

From The Flag: On Monday, Allstate announced it was also halting the sale of new home insurance policies in California. The company provided a similar explanation. Here’s more from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

This Is How Climate Changes Things

• The actions taken by State Farm and Allstate are warnings that California’s wildfires are making the state’s homes uninsurable.

• Home insurance rates must be allowed to increase more rapidly in California, and development trends also need to change.

• Cynical voices on the right have suggested “woke” policies led to State Farm’s exit but in reality this is all about climate change.

California Is Becoming Uninsurable Alissa Walker, Curbed: "State Farm ... (cites) 'historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation... and a challenging reinsurance market.' In other words, it’s getting too expensive to rebuild homes lost to the state’s increasingly destructive wildfires. And the largest property-insurance company in the country retreating from the country’s largest property-insurance market isn’t just an inconvenience for potential homeowners — it’s a sign of what’s to come. Over the past five years, wildfires have destroyed 25,000 homes in the state; in 2018, the most devastating year on record, Californians filed $11.7 billion in wildfire-related claims. But even when homeowners manage to avoid the flames, they often emerge from disaster only to learn their properties are no longer covered. This phenomenon, called 'nonrenewal,' has recently become a problem for mansion-studded, fire-prone communities like Montecito, but it’s also happening in less-wealthy places like Paradise, where the Camp Fire destroyed 90 percent of the town’s homes five years ago."

Climate change is making California more expensive. Home insurance is the latest bellwether Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times: "The insurance industry argues that California has become a much riskier and expensive state to operate in, but insurers haven’t been allowed to raise rates enough to match the new reality. ... In other states that have suffered climate-fueled weather disasters, such as Florida and Texas, home insurance rates have increased more steeply than in California. ... (It's) inevitable and necessary that homeowners insurance rates accurately reflect the risk of living in areas prone to wildfires. That’s painful, but it sends an important price signal, not just to property owners but to elected leaders who set the policies that dictate how and where communities grow. For decades, California’s coastal and urban areas have made it hard to build enough housing for the state’s population, so developers and residents have flocked to cheaper land near and in the foothills, forests and grasslands that are prone to burn."

One more opinion piece from the Left: Insurers are fleeing states due to climate realities, not ‘anti-woke’ bullies Stuart Mackintosh, The Hill

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Poor Land Management and Overwrought Regulation Leaving Cali on the Brink

• While it’s certainly true California has struggled with wildfires in recent years, the main culprit is poor land management — not climate change.

• Despite devastating wildfires in 2017 and 2018, California home insurers were effectively prohibited from raising premiums in line with risk.

• California’s home insurance market has been careening toward and all-out crisis for years now, and it’s finally underway.

The real reason State Farm won’t sell home insurance in California anymore Jon Miltimore, Washington Examiner Opinion: "While climate change might be in the zeitgeist, there are better explanations for State Farm’s exit. ... there’s no question that California has struggled mightily with wildfires in recent years. ... Worse, California’s wildfires tend to be the most destructive. ... Many have seized on (this) to perpetuate the myth that wildfires are at historic highs in the United States — they are not — because of climate change. The truth is wildfires are not a serious problem in most parts of the US... because these states practice better land management. In a 2020 ProPublica article, journalist Elizabeth Weil pointed out that California officials have turned the state into a tinderbox through years of fire suppression. ... (That's) a stark contrast to the Southeast, where 'fire is widely accepted as a tool for land management' and millions of acres are allowed to burn each year."

Why Insurers Are Fleeing California Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: "The culprit isn’t climate change, as the media claims in parroting Sacramento talking points. The cause is the Golden State’s hostile insurance environment. The nation’s top property and casualty insurer... won’t accept new applications for homeowners insurance, citing 'historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market.' In other words, State Farm can’t accurately price risk and increase its rates to cover ballooning liabilities. Other property and casualty insurers, including AIG and Chubb, have also been shrinking their California footprint after years of catastrophic wildfires, which are becoming more common owing to drought and decades of poor forest management. Wildfires in 2017 and 2018 wiped out two times the underwriting profits that insurers had accrued over the prior 26 years. Yet state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara won’t let insurers raise premiums to account for increasing wildfire risks."

One more opinion piece from the Right: California’s Insurance Market Is Burning Down Steven Greenhut, R Street

FLAG THIS

Mother Nature: She’ll Huff, Puff, and Blow Your House Down

Polling data suggests the majority of homeowners (55%) have never filed a claim on their home insurance policy.

More than a third (37%) say they haven’t updated their home insurance policy since first purchasing the property.

Weather-related damages are the most common reason for filing a claim, accounting for 7 in every 10 claims filed.

It’s crucial to know what your policy covers: 47% say they were surprised by a denied claim following a flood, while 51% said the same after a tornado (ValuePenguin).

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

First Denali Ascent, Beat Stress Like a Seal, The End of French Jousting

On June 7, 1913, Hudson Stuck, an Alaskan missionary, leads the first successful ascent of Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley), the highest point on the North American continent at 20,320 feet.

Inc: Beat Stress Like a Navy SEAL With This Ridiculously Easy Exercise

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NYP: This 77-square-foot NYC apartment with no bathroom rented for $2,350/month

Today I Learned King Henry II of France participated in a jousting tournament in 1559 to celebrate the marriage of his daughter. A lance splintered on his helmet and pushed wood into his eye and brain. He died ten days later. His death led to the decline of jousting in France.